Mechanical resonators are used in a wide range of applications, including gyroscopes, filters, accelerometers, and clocks. Performance of a mechanical resonator is enhanced by maximizing the quality factor (“Q-factor”). The Q-factor refers to the ability of the system to keep energy. Typically, energy dissipation occurs in instances including squeeze film damping, thermoselastic dissipation (“TED”), surface loss, phono-phonon and phono-electron interactions, and anchor loss. TED and phono-phonon and phono-electron interactions are intrinsic losses and are traditionally reduced by carefully selecting the resonator material. Surface loss is traditionally minimized using various surface treatments, and squeeze film dissipation is traditionally reduced by operating the resonator in a vacuum. Comparatively, anchor loss has not been easy to control. Thus, it is desirable to have a device and method to reduce anchor loss, thereby increase the Q-factor in mechanical resonators.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.